NEW YORK - GOLDMAN Sachs Group and Credit Suisse Group on Friday said they will cut about 2,000 job worldwide as a credit crisis puts a damper on fixed-income trading and corporate dealmaking.

Goldman Sachs, the most valuable US investment bank by market capitalisation, plans to cut its global work force 5 per cent, targeting the worst-performing employees.

The reduction at Goldman, which employs about 30,500 worldwide, represents about 1,500 employees. The winnowing is something Goldman does every year, the company said.

'Due to market conditions and projected staffing levels required to meet client needs, we are reducing headcount by approximately 500 across the investment banking division, primarily in the global securities department,' the company said in a statement.

But the Swiss bank also said it plans to hire several hundred people in areas with revenue growth potential.

Goldman and Credit Suisse have been relatively unscathed by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. And Goldman's investment banking revenue surged 47 per cent to nearly US$2 billion in the three months that ended Nov 30.

But Credit Suisse's investment bank was hit by write-downs of more than 2.2 billion Swiss francs (S$2.9 billion) in November.

That's far less severe, however, than what happened at archrival UBS, which has disclosed US$14.5 billion (S$20.8 billion) in write-downs. Even Goldman has given a cautious outlook for 2008 and said that weaker trading and investment banking markets would make earnings growth challenging. -- REUTERS